Author: Alchemos

Here’s a really simple tip which will help you take control of positions by claiming space and limiting your opponent’s possibilities. It’s a principle called “one pawn holds two”. Imagine Black has 2 pawns, one on a6 the other still […]

Blitz chess: fast, exciting and fun. Who cares if it doesn’t do much for your overall game? Blitz is about reactions, pattern recognition and speed of both thought and movement. As long as you don’t confuse it with actual chess […]

Publisher: Batsford Chess Author: GM Andrew Soltis 318 pages ★★★★½ GM Andrew Soltis returns with a sequel to his popular book “What it takes to become a Chess Master”. Whereas “Chess Master” talked about the new skills you need to move […]

Yuri Averbakh, Russian GM, author, endgame expert and currently the world’s oldest living GM at 93 (!), revealed in a 1997 interview in New in Chess that he placed chess players into 6 categories. Here they are with his description […]

Joseph Henry Blackburne (1841-1924) only learned chess at 18 but became one of the most successful players in England, famous for his tactical play and talent for blindfold chess. The following games take place between Blackburne and a player called John […]

An interesting miniature occurred at the Millionaire Chess tournament recently. The game was a rapid tiebreak between Evgeny Bareev (2669) and Hikaru Nakamura (2812). The position shown was reached after Bareev tried to capitalize on the undefended h5 Knight with […]

In 2006, the Icelandic TV station Ríkisútvarpið RUV broadcast a rapid match between masters Arnar Gunnarson and Bragi Thorfinsson in which the position below was reached. Gunnarson, playing Black and short of time, picked up his King before noticing the move would […]

Publisher: Everyman Chess Author: FM Steve Giddins 288 pages ★★★★☆ The great thing about game collections – as opposed to opening/endgame books – is you get to see the game as a complete entity, including how the phases transition to one […]

Publisher: Everyman Chess Author: WGM Jovanka Houska 480 pages ★★★★½ The Caro-Kann is a funny opening – it looks completely unambitious (would you open 1.c3?) yet it was a favourite of World Champions Capablanca, Botvinnik, Petrosian and Karpov. Of course, these […]